How To Break Up: A Guide By Chloe Beale And Beca Mitchell
by Sweedledome
Summary: Honestly? It's the worst guide ever. Bechloe one shot.


_**Hey, so if you're following any of my other stories then I'm sorry but work is being an absolute bitch at the moment and I really need a day off to figure out what I'm doing with them but I am currently about half way through a 16 day working period and figuring it out requires more brain power than I have at the end of a working day. Seriously, my last day off was the 9**__**th**__**. On the plus side, I have Comicon to enjoy on the 25**__**th**__**, yay.**_

_**Anyway, this happened after listening to 'I Know' by Tom Odell. Great song. E**__**njoy.**_

* * *

><p><span>How To Break Up: A Guide By Chloe Beale And Beca Mitchell<span>

"Facebook setting changed?"

"Check."

"Friends told?"

"Check."

"Stuff returned?"

Che-oh, wait, hold on a minute." Chloe reaches to grab Beca's headphones from her night stand.

"So…that's it then?" Chloe nods as she places the headphones that have been in her possession for a while now back around Beca's neck where they belong.

"That's it. It's final. We are officially broken up." She confirms, releasing Beca.

"Yup….man that was easy."

"I know right? We should totes be break up counsellors."

"I don't think that's a thing."

"Then we'll make it a thing."

"You're such a dork, you know that?" Beca laughs endearingly at Chloe while Chloe scowls and swats her arm. The atmosphere is one of relaxed ease and…it doesn't really feel like a break up. "I…should it be this easy?"

"Maybe not…but it's not like this is the end for us."

"Yeah, I mean obviously we'll still be friends."

"Well yeah, obviously. I mean, we were friends before. It'll be fine."

"Exactly. We're just…taking a step back from each other."

"Mhmmm." Beca nods at Chloe's agreement, gathers the last of her things up in her arms, gives Chloe a smile and leaves. It is perhaps a little bizarre how smoothly all this has gone. Chloe can't recall any other break up with so little drama. She wonders if it's because the nature of their relationship has always been so casual. It's been light and fun and everything Chloe wanted from a final college fling. Neither of them were looking for anything serious and now that Chloe's leaving for LA at the end of summer, they'd mutually decided to break things off rather than doing long distance. There's been no uncontrollable tears, no screaming matches, no resentful jealousy. They just agreed and…that was it, they're friends now.

And that's fine.

Completely fine.

Honestly, it gives Chloe hope for their friendship that there's no bad blood between them. This is going to be the easiest break up ever.

* * *

><p>"And where do you think you're going?" Chloe can feel Aubrey's disapproving eyebrow from across the room. She doesn't know why her beloved best friend is asking when they both know exactly where Chloe is going…well…she does. She's doing it to prove a point.<p>

Since breaking up, Chloe and Beca haven't really spent all that much time apart. Aubrey's taken to repeatedly hinting at this crazy theory she has that they aren't exactly broken up…but they are. They most definitely are. They haven't had sex in about a week now and that certainly longer than Chloe can ever recall going without it since Beca's been around. Really, it's just nice to spend time with her favourite brunette, talking and joking and being friendly.

Because they're friends.

And friends talk.

This is totes normal friendship stuff.

"Beca and I are going to grab some coffee before rehearsal." Aubrey wants to punch something when Chloe smiles at the mere mention of Beca's name.

"That's the fourth time this week." She says deliberately.

"Yeah? So?" That's it Chloe, play it casually.

"You do realise you_ just _broke up right?"

"Yeah…we agreed we're staying friends. Friends hang out…"

"I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to spend every spare minute of your day with your ex immediately post break up….but that's none of my business." Aubrey sips nonchalantly at her tea and Chloe slips out the door, trying to ignore the part of her brain that's suggesting Aubrey's made a very valid point.

* * *

><p>A week later and Beca is a little confused. She's the one who's supposed to hate movies. The one who's supposed to sit there twitching with boredom yet, for some reason, Chloe is the one unable to settle down and relax, even though it was her idea to put a film on.<p>

"You okay there Chlo?" Beca enquires.

"Mhmm." Chloe smiles but doesn't really look at Beca. She doesn't trust herself to right now.

"You sure?"

"Mhmm." Chloe twitches again. God it would really help if Beca could stop looking so damn edible. She is doing nothing for Chloe's self-control here.

"You seem a little restless is all…"

"I'm fine Beca!" Chloe snaps. Beca recoils and Chloe is instantly awash with guilt. It's not Beca's fault that she's horny as anything…well…it is…but it's not like Beca can help being irresistible to Chloe.

"Okay, sorry for caring." Beca grouches. Chloe sighs and takes a moment to calm herself down, then she places a delicate touch to Beca's arm as a gesture of good will.

"I'm sorry." There's a sincerity in her voice that soothes Beca but she's a little worried about whatever it is that's got Chloe so worked up. Chloe very rarely speaks sharply like that so something must really be getting to her.

"Want to tell me what's wrong?" Chloe squirms a little but seeing as she just yelled at Beca for no good reason, she feels Beca is entitled to some sort of explanation for her behaviour.

"It's just…I'm a little frustrated is all."

"Frustrated?" Beca blinks innocently.

"Since we broke up, my hand just doesn't do the trick you know?"

"Oh…_oh." _Now she gets it.

"Yeah…" So then they sink into silence in light of Chloe's admission and Chloe's fretting that she's made things awkward. It's Beca who eventually speaks and it's not to make hurried excuses about getting away as Chloe expects.

"…you know what we could do?"

"What?"

"We could…I mean…hypothetically speaking…have sex." Beca casually picks at a piece of fluff on her trousers.

"Oh no, that would be a bad idea. We broke up." The way Chloe says it sounds more like a question than anything else.

"Yeah, but did we ever really get closure?"

"Closure?"

"You know, we finished pretty suddenly and there's still all this unresolved tension floating about. If we have sex one last time then we can get it out of our system and move on." Chloe nods her head in contemplation, that seems like a very reasonable conclusion.

"And then we'll have closure."

"Exactly!"

"It's the most logical course of action." Chloe states factually and calmly even though her heart is going a million miles a minute.

"We owe it to ourselves really." Beca shuffles towards her.

"It would be irresponsible not to." Hands begin playing with the bottom of Beca's shirt.

"One last time then?"

"Uh huh…for closure."

"Yep, closure…" Beca agrees as they fly at each other, already frantically trying to remove clothing. In the midst of their efforts, Chloe hears Beca growl "God I love closure."

* * *

><p>Chloe is just finishing stacking the mayonnaise tubs in the back room of the campus college café where she works when her colleague Shona comes to fetch her.<p>

"Hey Chloe, do you want to take your lunch break now? Your girlfriend is here."

"Who? Beca? She's not my girlfriend."

"I swear you said she was?"

"Yeah, well, we were but we broke up a couple of weeks ago now."

"Oh…do I need to call security?"

"Oh no, it's nothing like that. We've agreed to be friends."

"Okay…"

"What's that look for?"

"You just talk about her a lot is all. Like, a _lot…_.and she's been in here quite a few times the past couple of weeks."

"She's my friend."

"Okay, whatever you say Beale." Chloe bites her lip worriedly at the snort of amusement from her co-worker. Moving around to the front, she sees Beca's face light up as she approaches.

"Hey Chlo, I brought you lunch." The smile Beca expects from Chloe never comes while Beca is brandishing her bag and she can feel her own slipping away at Chloe's hesitant look. "What?"

"It's...do you think we're being too couple-ey? People keep commenting."

"Oh…right. Bringing you lunch…yeah…I suppose maybe it is a little couple-ey. I should probably just leave this with you then?" Beca holds up the bag and Chloe smell her favourite pasta sauce the Beca makes (and refuses to tell her the secret ingredient to).

"Well that's not fair. You went to the effort to put this together and I wouldn't want you to starve…"

"I am pretty hungry."

"Plus, it's totally normal for friends have lunch together, right?"

"Definitely, this is totally friend territory. Who cares what other people think?"

"So it's nothing to worry about?"

"Precisely."

"Okay then, come on, we can go eat this on the quad."

"Okay." Chloe smiles and begins leading Beca out to the tree they like to sit under for lunch sometimes. They're barely out the door before she hears a quiet cough from Beca. "Um...Chlo?"

"Yeah?"

"You're holding my hand."

"Oh…right."

* * *

><p>"I'm just saying that it's dangerous. Who knows what kind of creeps are lurking out there just waiting to take advantage of the innocent freshman?" Beca purses her lips sceptically at Chloe's insistence that Beca ought to stay the night because it's dark outside. Despite Beca's repeated assurances that she does it all the time when she's finished a shift at the radio station, Chloe's still being stubborn about Beca staying. If the twitchiness Beca is so familiar with and Chloe's not-exactly-subtle staring is anything to go by, Beca's got a pretty decent idea why Chloe really wants her to stay.<p>

"I've got my rape whistle."

"Not good enough. You'll stay here tonight and go home in the morning." Chloe folds her arms and doesn't move from her position stood in front of the door. She's already dressed in her pajamas and it's more than a little difficult for Beca to keep her eyes where they should be with so much of Chloe's leg on display.

"Chlo…"

"I would be an inconsiderate friend if I asked you to leave."

"This is risky Chloe." Beca warns but Chloe continues to play innocent.

"Why?" This is going nowhere unless they confront the issue, so Beca sighs in defeat and says exactly what's on her mind.

"Because we both know exactly what's going to happen if I get into that bed with you." Choe arches an eyebrow.

"You certainly think highly of yourself don't you?"

"Well…past experience does suggest that I should be pretty confident about all this."

"Jackass. Come on. We've been doing brilliantly, think of it as a test of our friendship. If we can share a bed without doing anything then we've properly made the transition to friends. Besides, I'm sure we can control ourselves for one night. We're not animals." As Chloe talks, Beca can see the determination in her eyes and her own begins to grow inside her. They can do this. They're friends. Friends can share a bed. Suddenly it's a challenge to prove how just friends they are.

"Okay, fine. Let's do this…by which I mean let's not do it."

"Right. Okay. Just two friends sharing a bed."

"Yup. I'll go change in the bathroom."

"Good plan buddy."

As she's changing, Beca constantly whispers 'this is a good thing' to herself, hoping that it'll become convincing at some point because it really doesn't feel like it right now.

When Beca returns, Chloe has already turned off the light and got in to bed. She slips in beside the redhead, her arm instinctively goes to hook around Chloe's waist but stops halfway there as she remembers herself. She settles on her back and Chloe settles on hers and they have as much distance between them as is possible in a queen bed.

Then it goes quiet.

Beca becomes very aware of the sound of Chloe breathing next to her.

Chloe can feel every dip in the mattress as Beca subtly readjusts herself.

In the darkness they turn to look at each other and the next thing they know, they're apologising to a furious Aubrey in the morning for the level of noise last night and are swearing it's a one off that won't happen again.

(At least she still doesn't know they had sex on the couch)

* * *

><p>"Okay, coast is clear." Beca motions for Chloe to follow her out. Chloe giggles when she spots something previously unnoticed in the dim lighting of the janitor's closet. "What? What is it?"<p>

"Your shirt is on inside out."

"Ugh, dammit." Beca quickly strips while there's no one around and turns her shirt the right way around. Chloe in no way stares as she does so. Nope. Uh uh. Not at all. Beca raises an eyebrow when she catches Chloe not staring and Chloe just shrugs.

"Well maybe if you hadn't seduced me then we wouldn't be in this position."

"I seduced you?! _I _seduced _you?!_" Beca splutters as they begin walking back in the direction of Beca's dorm. "I'm pretty sure you were the one running your hands all over me during practice!"

"It's not my fault your moves were off." Chloe smiles a smile that is so innocent that Beca knows she is directly responsible for what just happened. She scowls at Chloe's smugness.

"My moves were _not_ off."

"It's okay Becs, we all need a little help from time to time."

"You better not be 'helping' anyone else the way you just did with me." Beca absent mindedly comments as they approach her building. She freezes at Chloe's next words.

"So what if I was?"

"...well…you'd be free to do that…because we're not together anymore." Chloe nods at the appropriate response. They're not together any more, Beca has no right to be jealous. She's passed this test with flying colours.

"No, we're not." Chloe confirms…why does she suddenly feel dreadfully disappointed? It's not like she wants Beca to get jealous and reclaim Chloe as her own…right? She opens her mouth to say something else but they're interrupted by Fat Amy emerging from Baker Hall and fixing them with a knowing grin when she spots them.

"S'up my Sapphic Sheilas? Finally done with your lady boning?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Beca denies, immediately going on the defensive.

"Pffft, ginger here was practically dry humping you during rehearsal and we all heard those noises coming from the closet when we left. Even Stacie keeps a better lid on it then you two do."

"I…we broke up." Chloe declares most unconvincingly. It's the only response she can think of right now. Amy just winks at them.

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days? In that case I'm gonna go see if that sexy ass piece of man candy Beca works with wants to go break up a couple of times. Wouldn't mind adding him to my collection of male admirers." And with that she wanders off leaving Beca and Chloe reeling at just how obvious their escapades are. When they reach Beca's room, Beca closes the door behind them, runs a hand across her face and announces what they're both thinking.

"Okay, that's it. We absolutely cannot have sex anymore."

"You're right, we need to put a ban on the sex." Chloe reinforces.

"Yup, no more of the sexing, from here on out this is a platonic relationship."

"We're agreed then." Chloe thrusts out her hand to make a solemn pact then and there that there will be no more shenanigans between them. Beca grabs it and they shake firmly as they stare furiously into each other's eyes.

"Definitely. No more sex and that's final."

_37 minutes and 6 seconds later…_

Chloe and Beca fall back onto the bed together gasping, naked and more than a little bit sweaty.

"Goddammit, how does this keep happening?!"

* * *

><p>They're lying sprawled on Chloe's bed reading together when Chloe finally plucks up the courage to say the thing she knows needs to be said but that she really really doesn't want to say because she knows it's going to hurt and…<p>

"Beca?"

"Hmmm?"

"We need to talk…"

"Oh no, you're not breaking up with me are you?" Beca gasps dramatically, then chuckles. It's only when her eyes lift from the page in front of her and she spots Chloe's unusually sombre attitude that the laughs fade away. She places the book down and gently grips Chloe's hand. God, Beca is not making this easy. "Chlo? What's wrong?"

"We can't do this anymore."

"What?" Chloe pulls her hand back and stands up to put some distance between them.

"This! This 'friendship' thing. We can't be around each other anymore." Beca freezes.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we're too attracted to each other still. We hang out all the time and we have sex way more than I'm sure is normal in most friendships and…I thought we could jump straight in to being friends but we can't. We need to not see each other if we want this break up to stick." Beca feels positively sick. Her whole life she's had people run out on her. Chloe's assured her again and again that she'll always be Beca's friend. It was one of her major concerns about breaking up and now Chloe's trying to run just like the rest of them.

"That's not fair Chlo! You can't say that to me when you swore this wouldn't affect us. You promised me, you _promised _we'd be friends."

"And we will…just not right now. It's too easy to slip back in to old habits. Honestly Beca, we keep saying we're only friends but apart from giving each other our stuff back and saying we're not in a relationship, what's changed?" Chloe argues desperately, trying to get Beca to see…and Beca does see, she just doesn't want to admit it.

"Friends have sex sometimes, it's totally normal."

"No, it's not Beca." Beca sighs and admits defeat. When she stands, Chloe wraps her in a hug that makes her never want to leave.

"You're right. I….god, this sucks. I don't wanna lose you Chloe."

"And you won't. We simply need to spend a little time apart, get used to not being around each other again. We will be friends, but we need to take some time away from each other to get there."

"You swear?"

"I swear."

"I…uh, I suppose I'd better leave then."

"Yeah, that's probably best." Beca grabs her bag and trudges out the door looking so morose that Chloe nearly calls her back. This feels an awful lot more like a break up than the first time…

Chloe doesn't like it.

* * *

><p>Chloe's curled up in her standard position these days as a tiny ball of misery and depression when her phone lights up. She knows exactly who it is. She knows she shouldn't answer. Chloe bites her lip for two more rings, then gives in to her desires and picks up.<p>

"Hey…" That one word is like a warm blanket that envelopes Chloe.

"Beca, we're not supposed to-"

"I know! I know but I…tell me something about your day?"

"What?"

It can be anything, anything at all Chloe. I just need to hear you."

"We agreed no contact Beca."

"I know that…but I'm lost without you Chlo. I miss you."

"Beca…"

"This is okay isn't it though? It's not like we're going to have sex. I…I just want to talk to you."

"Okay."

"So…how are you?"

* * *

><p>They talk that night for five hours.<p>

It feels good just to talk.

To hear each other once more.

They make it another week before Beca rings again.

Chloe picks up without hesitation this time.

She's lost without Beca too.

Talking…it's not as good as seeing each other, but it's enough. It soothes the ache that constantly seems to follow Chloe around since she sent Beca packing.

* * *

><p>Beca tries to pass her days by pretty much living at the campus radio station.<p>

Sometimes it doesn't work to keep herself busy.

Like today.

She instinctively cues up Titanium to play next.

It feels like contact somehow.

Almost as soon as the song starts to play, Beca receives a text from Chloe.

:) xxx

She smiles.

Jesse makes some comment about her not understanding what a break up means.

She throws her shoe at him.

* * *

><p>Chloe's wandering about lost in her own thoughts one day when she looks up and see her feet have carried her to the campus radio station…she shouldn't. It would be counterproductive.<p>

She does anyway. She enters the radio station and sees Beca standing there looking smaller than Chloe's ever seen her.

"Hey…" Beca says softly.

"Hey." It's the first time they've spoken face to face in two weeks, six days and 19 hours….not that Chloe's been counting…

"Um, do you need something?"

"I…no. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come." Just as she turns to leave, Beca calls out after her.

"I don't want to break up."

"Beca?" Beca steps around the desk and forward into Chloe's personal bubble until Chloe can count all the many different shades of blue in her eyes. Her words are whispered quietly into Chloe's mouth, filling her up with light.

"I really, really, _really _don't want to break up."

"Me either but…LA…"

"So what? We'll long distance it."

"That's two years Beca. Two years until you can come join me."

"I don't care. Look, Chloe, this whole thing was supposed to be casual and easy and it was. I was so busy having this amazing time with you that I didn't realise how hard I was falling…but I did. _So _hard Chloe. These past weeks have been unbelievably depressing without you, the only time I feel okay is when we're on the phone together."

"It's a big commitment…"

"Look me in the eyes, tell me you want to stay broken up and I'll walk away."

"I…"

"Just tell me to leave it alone Chloe."

"No." And like that, they're kissing. Then Chloe's backing her into the desk, lifting her up by her thighs, spreading her legs and…

"Mmmph, Chloe, Luke, he has this rule-"

"I don't care."

Chloe's hands go to the button of Beca's jeans and suddenly Beca doesn't care any more either.

* * *

><p>Aubrey doesn't seem that excited by the news they're back together.<p>

She rolls her eyes and says "now there's a surprise".

That's pretty much the strongest reaction they get.

Everyone else thought they were joking about breaking up anyway.

Apparently they really suck at this whole breaking up malarkey.

That's okay though, they prefer it that way.


End file.
